Gen Z is laughing in the face of the AI jobs apocalypse. I see it in my classroom every day
This spring strategy class, a student leaned back during a discussion about automation and “Eh, we will not find a job because of AI, but who cares?” The laughter fluctuated in front of the room. It was fast, light – even relaxing. But under the jokes, there was a tense reality. For many young people, this feeling is the elephant in the room: they feel that the labor market is developing under the influence of AI and they are not sure where they will fit.
When I asked a few students whether they were seriously talking about AI’s changing their jobs, one of them replied, “Not really. If you think too much, it makes you feel desperate”. Another said, “We just understand that something else will come. Or maybe we will understand how to work with it.” He said. Humor has become a means of coping – a way of accepting the threat.
This feeling is based on data. A Goldman Sachs Analysis Gen Z Tech employees have experienced higher unemployment than older generations, and the rates of 20-30 years of age have gained approximately 3 percent points since the beginning of 2024-four times the national average increase. Goldman Sachs’ senior economist Joseph Briggs warns this “The easiest automatic tasks – usually the youngest employees – naturally the most vulnerable.” However, even among this landscape, roughly 42% of the Gen Z employees used career decisions – the highest of any generation – to inform and One -fifth of AI suggested a career way they haven’t thought of before..
The gene is not the first generation shaped by turbulence. Millennials met the 2008 stagnation, Gen X Experienced Offshoring and Boomers have followed the automation of industries. However, the rapid scope and transportation of AI allocated this moment. 2025 SHRM survey found that 80% of employers expected the entry -level job descriptions to change significantly due to AI.
Some students are already preserved: they turn to more human-centered areas-Zihinsal health, talented tradesmen, education-and others dive into their AI skills, hoping to be ahead. A few of them build early concerts: free work, private lessons and part -time creative work. A student caught this in the best way: “If AI really changes everything, we can’t control it. So I prefer to focus on what I can do now.” It is a mixture of pragmatism and fatalism that feels Gen Z in a unique way.
However, the risk is that the passivity of humor is masking. Laughing from the threat can alleviate the moment, but do not establish long -term preparation. The same laughter, the oddity of job interviews, the “Gen Z Stare” tales in service roles and the viral “workplace hacked” on Tiktoks, such as CC-IC fake lawyers to protect themselves from bad bosses, make their real business concerns related.
Is this enough? According to Economist Tyler Cowen George Mason University, not completely. He argues that the university curriculum is overly focused on routine skills – AI can now manage better – and One third of higher learning to teach students how to use AIUnderstand the limits and improve the critical thinking and mentoring capacities that AI cannot reproduce.
The difficulty is that educators, employers and policy makers build on the humor, adaptability and intelligence of Gen Z – not far from it. Laughter is a part of cultural tool sets, which is a way to neutralize and connect the tension, but should be matched with open -eyed preparation. Laughing at uncertainty is naturally not harmful; In fact, it can indicate flexibility. Nevertheless, if humor is a single reaction, deeper concerns are not accepted.
Helping this generation to see beyond the joke means showing how to turn fast intelligence into strategic thought. This may include the design of workplace mentoring programs that help young employees to connect with long -term career planning to encourage students to place their literacy in each discipline, to consider students as a collaborator rather than threats, or to connect short -term problem solving with long -term career planning. It also means rewarding adaptability, not only when things are used to predict change, not only when things go wrong.
Artificial intelligence will work in unexpected ways by touching industries from creative arts to health logistics. While offering completely new career categories, it can make others faster than any previous automation wave. The real question is whether the combination of humor, adaptability and attention helps them to ride this wave – or whether they react too late and whether they are caught under them. Laughing continues for now. The next work is to ensure that it is matched with skills and predictions to turn uncertainty into an opportunity.
Fortune.com The views expressed in the interpretation pieces are only the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect their views and beliefs. Luck.
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